A variety of optical components, such as those used in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems, are equipped with bare fiber interfaces. Optical signals are coupled into the bare fibers to measure performance parameters of the optical components before the components are installed into a WDM system. Measurement accuracy depends on repeatability of the insertion loss of the signal coupling into the bare fiber. Micropositioners may be used to image optical signals directly onto the bare fibers, but insertion loss is sensitive to the alignment of the optical signals on the bare fiber, and even slight misalignment causes insertion loss variations. Alignment sensitivity may be reduced by imaging a filtered white light source onto the bare fiber, but coupling white light into the fiber is inherently inefficient and does not provide enough optical signal strength to test wide dynamic range optical components, such as those used in the WDM systems. In addition, polarization characterization and optical time-domain reflectometry measurements are not conveniently performed using white light. Fusion splicing the bare fibers provides highly repeatable insertion loss, but it is time consuming, especially when the optical component being measured has multiple bare fibers. Bare fiber adapters have short set-up times, allowing bare fibers to be coupled quickly, but the adapters have poor insertion loss repeatability. Accordingly, there is a need for an optical fiber coupling system that has repeatable insertion loss and that also allows for quick coupling of optical signals to bare fibers.